In addition to leading affiliate sales efforts for USA Network, The Golf Channel, CNBC and several other NBCU cable networks, Budill will be charged with squeezing increased retransmission-consent fees for NBC-owned TV stations from cable operators and satellite TV providers. NBCU CEO Steve Burke said last year that he expects the company will generate "hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars" each year from retransmission-consent fees.

Budill is the latest Cablevision EVP to leave the company following the exit last year of COO Tom Rutledge, who is now CEO of Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR). Other top Cablevision executives that have left the company in recent months include president of cable communications John Bickham, EVP of consumer operations Kathleen "Kip" Mayo, EVP of corporate engineering and technology Jim Blackley, chief marketing officer Jonathan Hargis, EVP of network operations Scott Weber and Cablevision Media Sales president David Kline. Bickham, Blackley, Hargis, Mayo and Weber have followed Rutledge to Charter, which recently announced plans to move its headquarters to Stamford, Conn.

"We would like to thank Mac Budill for his contributions to Cablevision over many years and wish him well in the future," Cablevision said in a statement Monday. The company is expected to name a new head of programming soon.

The Sports Business Daily first reported on Oct. 15 that Budill was joining NBCU.

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